Official Comcast CableCard Thread!

As is mentioned time and time again in these forums, some people can't get OTA. I live at the base of hill in Portland, OR that completely blocks all reception from the antennas on the next hill over. If I want broadcast TV, I have to pay for limited basic service thru Comcast. The whole reason it exists is for people with circumstances similar to mine.

According to Comcast, the charge is not for the box, it is to receive HD channels. They may not add it unless you have one of their boxes, but once it's added it's nearly impossible to get Comcast to remove it. I haven't had a box from Comcast for years, but they still charge me the HD fee, despite me asking them multiple times to remove it.

From my Comcast price list: HD Technology Fee -- HD converter replaces standard definition converter on primary outlet. My parents' account was charged the fee, and I got it removed through online chat, pointing out that we didn't have the HD STB.

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I'll have to check, but I think my price list does say "HD service".

On a side note, my price list lists an HD outlet charge which it says is for HD cable boxes. Comcast once added that to my bill, but I got them to remove it since I have no HD cable boxes. Currently I pay no additional outlet fees, which is why I never pressed the HD Technology Fee issue since I don't want Comcast to tack on outlet fees for all my cable cards.

Got my bill with the price changes for January. Internet is going up $2 and TV is going up $4.50 (including a $1.50 broadcast TV charge). That's about 4%.

The charge for a second CableCard in a device is lowering to $1, but the charge for renting a box and remote is also going down (meaning the CC credit will go down).

The only plus side for me is that I'm still getting credit for 4 cards, though I only have 3. That whole portion of my bill makes no sense, but at least it's in my favor. What's really dumb is I could likely save money switching to Comcast's triple play, but I don't want their phone service.

I think I've about had it with Comcast/Xfinity. I have 2 Premiere's each with a cable card. HD service for about 8 years. On my account, there's a line item called Digital Access Fee for $9.95. I was told in the past it was so I could get HD channels. Rip-off extra fee (since I have no Comcast branded boxes) but whatever.

Today I went to the local Comcast office to get for my kids a couple of HD DTA adapters for their bedrooms. Good enough to give them each HD local channels and apparently some basic channels as well. The lady at the counter told me that I haven't been paying for HD service and there will not only be the additional $1.99 fee per HD DTA (which I was ok with), but also she needs to add a $9.95 HD Technology Fee. WTF? I told her I already got HD and was paying $9.95/mo for it. But apparently since I'm actually not renting a box from them, it somehow costs me more to just have a cable card.

I think I've about had it with Comcast/Xfinity. I have 2 Premiere's each with a cable card. HD service for about 8 years. On my account, there's a line item called Digital Access Fee for $9.95. I was told in the past it was so I could get HD channels. Rip-off extra fee (since I have no Comcast branded boxes) but whatever.

Today I went to the local Comcast office to get for my kids a couple of HD DTA adapters for their bedrooms. Good enough to give them each HD local channels and apparently some basic channels as well. The lady at the counter told me that I haven't been paying for HD service and there will not only be the additional $1.99 fee per HD DTA (which I was ok with), but also she needs to add a $9.95 HD Technology Fee. WTF? I told her I already got HD and was paying $9.95/mo for it. But apparently since I'm actually not renting a box from them, it somehow costs me more to just have a cable card.

Do you guys also get double dipped? I'm in the Chicago subs.

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The $9.95 fee you are currently paying is not "so (you) can get HD channels", it is for the second digital outlet (one is included in your package). Still bogus, IMHO. I'm paying three of them. You should also be getting two $2.50/mo "Customer Owned Equipment Adjustment" credits.

The HD technology fee is only supposed to apply if you have one or more of their HD boxes.

The $9.95 fee you are currently paying is not "so (you) can get HD channels", it is for the second digital outlet (one is included in your package). Still bogus, IMHO. I'm paying three of them. You should also be getting two $2.50/mo "Customer Owned Equipment Adjustment" credits.

The HD technology fee is only supposed to apply if you have one or more of their HD boxes.

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To expand on James' comments a bit...

1) You should be receiving a $5/mo credit on your bill for your 2 Premieres. If you're not, get them to fix it. And ask them for a retroactive refund, since they have not been in compliance with FCC mandated regulations. So they've been overcharging you.

2) While I agree with James that AO (Additional Outlet) fees are bogus conceptually, they are legitimate, in the sense that the FCC allows them. We should probably try and be clear about the distinction.

3) The HD Technology fee IS supposed to apply only with a Comcast HD box, though getting that applied properly is hit or miss. So, contrary to their claims, you should NOT have been billed for this before, since you had none of their hardware.

But what I'm not sure about is if the Comcast HD-DTA is a qualified trigger. If it is, then the fee is legitimate now (not before), since you just added 2 Comcast hardware HD-DTAs to your service. If you added only SD-DTAs, they could clearly NOT charge you the HD Tech fee. [Also, only one HD Technology Fee can be imposed per household. Not per device.]

4) The $2 fee for the HD-DTAs is legitimate, but they have to give you one of them for free, for one year, if you tell them that you previously had a digital TV on one outlet for the basic channels. See:

But they likely won't, unless you request it. And don't let them try and charge you more AO fees for those DTAs. Technically, the $2/mo fee is for a limited functionality digital AO, and the DTA box itself (plus remote) is included in that, for "free".

[This is based on published Comcast/Xfinity information, in my service area, in SW Michigan. YMMV, in specific monthly rates, but broadly speaking, the policies should apply.]

I have a strange issue where certain channels (usually USA, fx) work fine, then tivo says they are not authorized, then later they are fine. This seemed to start happening after I moved my cable card from my priemere xl4 to the roamio pro. I have tried to get a newer cable card, but my comcast office only has older ones (as well a dented and smashed ones). Any ideas?

I have a strange issue where certain channels (usually USA, fx) work fine, then tivo says they are not authorized, then later they are fine. This seemed to start happening after I moved my cable card from my priemere xl4 to the roamio pro. I have tried to get a newer cable card, but my comcast office only has older ones (as well a dented and smashed ones). Any ideas?

I have a strange issue where certain channels (usually USA, fx) work fine, then tivo says they are not authorized, then later they are fine. This seemed to start happening after I moved my cable card from my priemere xl4 to the roamio pro. I have tried to get a newer cable card, but my comcast office only has older ones (as well a dented and smashed ones). Any ideas?

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Read the thread "Tuners 5 and 6 Not Authorized". That is the exact problem they describe.

Just purchased Tivo Roamio - tried to obtain CableCard from local Comcast office. They ran out of cablecards in the morning - so I have to wait a week to try again. Or next option is to schedule install technician for $35. I'm starting to have buyer's remorse about the Tivo Roamio, especially after scanning through these forums....

Just purchased Tivo Roamio - tried to obtain CableCard from local Comcast office. They ran out of cablecards in the morning - so I have to wait a week to try again. Or next option is to schedule install technician for $35. I'm starting to have buyer's remorse about the Tivo Roamio, especially after scanning through these forums....

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Hang in there rogue. If you ever wanted to go TiVo this is the time to do it. It will be worth it once you get the card paired. That's really the only hassle and it sounds like it's gotten much better since the last time I tried it. Once you get it working they are pretty reliable. At least mine have been.

Just purchased Tivo Roamio - tried to obtain CableCard from local Comcast office. They ran out of cablecards in the morning - so I have to wait a week to try again. Or next option is to schedule install technician for $35. I'm starting to have buyer's remorse about the Tivo Roamio, especially after scanning through these forums....

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Mine has been fine since I changed the roamio to only use 5 tuners (per forum posting). I am not happy about having to do that, but this will do for now.

I have 2 Roamio+ and a XL4, with 3 cablecards on Comcast in Central Mass. All were working well, but I have never received On Demand...when I try to tune it, I get a V53 error on all machines. I just found out recently that the Tivo's can know get On Demand, so I decided to call Comcast today to get them to activate it. They tried to reset/repair the cards a couple of times, and one time they told me to wait about an hour, and if it didn't work, to call them again. Nothing has worked so far, but all of my other channels are working fine (I don't have any premium movie channels).

They're supposed to call me tomorrow to work on the problem. They say that I should be receiving On Demand. Can anyone give me any info that I can use to get them moving in the right direction?